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Public vents frustration with state regulators crafting permit for factory discharge into James River
At a hearing designed to hear public comment regarding a new permit for Hopewell’s largest chemical factory, city residents and environmental groups criticized state regulators tasked with ensuring the health of the James River. The hearing — held Tuesday evening at Hopewell’s Carter G. Woodson Middle School — focused on the renewal of a water discharge permit for AdvanSix Resins and Chemicals. AdvanSix is based in New Jersey and inherited a sprawling chemical plant from Honeywell International.
Claims in lawsuit by UVa Jewish student evaluated by others
A Jewish University of Virginia student from Israel has filed suit against the school in federal court, claiming he has been the victim of antisemitism on Grounds and that, further, UVa leaders knew and did nothing to stop it. ... Legal experts are skeptical about Goldstein’s claims and doubt the complaint, filed on May 17, will find much success in court. “This is an embarrassment to the legal profession. This isn’t a complaint,” attorney Jeff Fogel told The Daily Progress. “It makes claims which, frankly, I know to be lies, and on the other hand, it makes claims it can’t back up.”
Youngkin signs CODI alert bill in honor of Codi Bigsby
On Tuesday afternoon, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed a bill to create the CODI alert in honor of Codi Bigsby, the little boy from Hampton who is presumed dead after his father, Cory Bigsby, was found guilty of his murder. The alert similar to an Amber Alert, but it removes the criteria of the suspicion of abduction.
Main: Will Virginia’s residential solar market survive the coming year?
When the Virginia Clean Economy Act became law in 2020, solar advocates celebrated. In addition to creating a framework for a transition to a zero-carbon electricity sector by 2050, the VCEA and sister legislation known as Solar Freedom swept away multiple barriers to installing solar in Virginia. Among the new provisions were some that strengthened net metering, the program that allows residents, businesses and local governments who install solar on site to be credited for excess electricity they feed back to the grid.
Virginia distilleries generate over $275.9 million in revenue
Virginia’s distillery industry generated an economic impact of more than $1.1 billion and supported more than 3,000 jobs in 2022, according to a study by Economic Forensics and Analytics Inc., commissioned by the Virginia Spirits Board (VSB). There were approximately 81 licensed and revenue-generating distilleries in Virginia in 2022.
Data center construction damages 2 Black cemeteries in Prince William County
The Prince William County Historical Commission is sounding the alarm after two historic African American cemeteries in Brentsville were damaged by the construction of a new data center and a related electrical substation. Both cemeteries are the final resting places for members of the Gaskins family, whose lineage can be traced back to slaves freed in the 1790s by plantation owner Robert Carter III. They are located about 2 miles apart on Wellington Road outside Manassas, where historians say a vibrant community of free African Americans thrived in Prince William County both before and after the Civil War.
Lawmakers call for further inquiry into Virginia prison that had hypothermia hospitalizations
A raft of hypothermia hospitalizations and other questionable conditions at a Virginia prison uncovered in a recent report deserve further scrutiny, leading Democratic state lawmakers said this week. Lawmakers pledged to press Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration for answers and called for a newly created prisons watchdog to look into the findings of an Associated Press report, which found at least 13 hospitalizations for hypothermia over three years at the Marion Correctional Treatment Center.
The effects of removing RGGI from Virginia’s state budget
The Virginia General Assembly and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved the final state budget on May 13. Language that tied Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, did not make the final cut. Programs partly or largely funding with RGGI revenue will lose that money, and people who benefit from flood mitigation and energy-efficiency programs may have to turn elsewhere for funds.
Youngkin signs legislation aimed at protecting children
Governor Glenn Youngkin signed legislation on Wednesday that protects children from exploitation, missing child alerts and sentencing guidelines. “As a father of four children, I know that protecting our children is a parent’s highest priority. By signing these pieces of legislation today we continue to make progress to ensure the safety and well-being of our children. I am proud to sign these bills that protect our children and hold those who commit atrocities against children accountable,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Completion of Mountain Valley pipeline delayed, again
Developers are again delaying — slightly, they say — plans to begin shipping natural gas through the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Construction crews are still working to complete the final sections of the 303-mile pipeline, Matthew Eggerding, deputy general counsel for the project, wrote in a letter late Tuesday to federal regulators. Rather than place the pipeline in service by June 1, as Mountain Valley had asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve a month ago, the company is now “adjusting its targeted in-service date to early June,” the letter stated. An exact date was not provided.